I started off the sanding of my planks with a buffer/polisher from Harbor Freight with a very soft 7" foam pad that I glued velcro strips in order to attach the large 60 grit sanding discs. You want to keep the disc as flat as possible against the wood, but when it gets away from you the soft foam helps you avoid digging into your wood. Quite a dust storm was created, but I was able to get all the planks fairly even with each other in about a day. From here, went to the long board with 80 grit paper.

Found two problem areas. I think I know what I want to do, but seeking input.

This area has one board that must have been a little thinner. If I sand area to get it smooth, the side will have a dip in it. I plan on cutting this area out and adding a dutchman. Worried I might screw everything up. My other choice is the sand boards, but leave height difference and fill with epoxy to get smooth. Will this be noticeable?

Looking Good!!! Some Famowood filler will take care of the small gaps. Then a good filler stain like Interlux or Sandusky will help smooth out color variation. As for the flattening out, can you take some off on the upper boards (now lower) to bring back the contour? Transom bands will also cover some if it does not go too far forward. Stern side bumpers may also hide the change in contour. Not really that bad, though.

Tahnks Roberta! The error at the transom could be filled with famowood and reshaped. I am planning on using transom bands and that will cover the area. Luckily it does not go too far forward. I think the side board will have to be dutchmanned unfortunately

Dont use fillers to fix the unfair or flat portion if you plan on keeping the hull bright finish, it will show. But a little careful sanding to help round it again and once transom bands go on youll definitely be the only one to ever notice.

I am so sick of sanding. That's all I've been doing for the past several weeks. So, no pictures to post. Maybe I'm being to picky with the finish. Also, Lisa has been demanding a lot of my weekend time. It's hard to make any progress when you only have an hour on the weekend to work on the boat. Alas, I'm afraid I am not going to make my stated plan to flip the Mona Lisa Thanksgiving weekend.

We do tend to sand the bottom and try to get a perfect paint job but then flip it only to realize youll only ever see a few inches of paint on the sides, transom and under the bow. Once it's fair and smooth its time to fiberglass while the temps are perfect for it before it gets too cold.However, on the sides its certainly worth taking your time, you would hate to have sanding scratches show up under the fiberglass and varnish where you could have spent more time sanding. I liked to wet with water or mineral spirits to help show any scratches. I went from 120 up to 320 grits before fiberglass and paint/varnish, mostly using a ro sander but final passes by hand.

I'm not spending alot of time on the bottom, but I'm on the transom and sides. I started with 60 grit on an ro sander and a long board. Also using a cabinet scraper and a card scraper. Planing on going to 220 grit. Should I go higher before epoxy?